Royal Mail launches investigation after undelivered letters found along Ballymena river walk

A tray of mail discovered by a dog walker on Saturday morning along a local river walk in Ballymena.

Royal Mail has launched an investigation after a tray of undelivered letters was discovered along a popular riverside walk in Ballymena.

A local resident made the unsettling find on Saturday morning, 17 January, while walking his dog along the Braid River Walk in the Tullygarley area of the town.

The man noticed one of Royal Mail’s distinctive grey plastic ‘perstop’ trays concealed beside the river path. Inside was a large quantity of mail, including personal letters, Christmas cards, junk mail and other correspondence that should have been delivered to households.

It is understood that the majority of the mail was intended for addresses in the Old Galgorm Road area of Ballymena.

Map showing location where mail was found

Concerned about the potential impact on residents, particularly given the personal nature of some of the correspondence, the man took the tray home for safekeeping and contacted Royal Mail to report the discovery.

Following the report, a postal driver was dispatched to collect the mail, which has since been recovered and is due to be delivered to its intended recipients.

The incident has raised questions locally about how the mail came to be abandoned outside of Royal Mail’s delivery network, especially along a well-used public walkway.

Speaking to Love Ballymena, a Royal Mail spokesperson responded to the incident saying:

“We received a report of some mail found on the Braid River Walk in Tullygarley. This is a matter we take very seriously and an investigation is underway to establish how the mail came to be outside of our network.

“The mail itself has been recovered and will be delivered to the intended recipients.

“We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

Royal Mail has not yet confirmed how many items of post were affected or how long the mail had been at the location before it was discovered.

Local residents have praised the finder for his responsible actions, noting that without his intervention the mail could have been damaged, lost or accessed by others.